In last year's playoffs, the Hawks & Omegas played in the first round. The Hawks won that series in three games that ended with a dramatic shootout win. These two teams meet again this year & they did not disappoint. Game 1 was close all the way through, with the Omegas coming out with a 4-3 overtime win.
The Omegas got on the scoreboard first, when Jared Millberry scored his first of two goals in the game. In the dying seconds of the first period, Calvin Pelleboer scored for the Hawks, to tie it up at 1-1.
A few minutes into the second period, the Hawks took the lead when Clint Schenk scored. By the end of the second period, the Omegas re-took the lead with goals from Mark Zylstra & Jared Millberry.
Early in the third, Dave Vanoostveen scored for the Hawks, to tie it up again at 3-3. Although there were a lot of chances for both teams after this, nobody was able to score any more goals in the third - sending it to overtime.
About half-way through the 10 minute overtime period, Dave Giffen scored the game winner for the Omegas. We'll give Dave the nod for Player of the Game. He also got an assist earlier in the game. Ian VanReenen also had a strong game for the Omegas, tallying three assists.

The later game between the Flyers & IceDogs was also a close one. The Flyers came away with a 4-2 win.
Joe Deboer, of the IceDogs, opened the scoring eight minutes into the first period. The Flyers tied it up with two minutes to go in the first, when Ryan Cross scored.
In the second period, the IceDogs got into some penalty trouble, and the Flyers capitalized. Within a five minute span, Joel VanVeller, Sid Karelsen, & Steve Capelle all scored for the Flyers, giving them a 4-1 lead going into the third.
After killing off a few more penalties, the IceDogs made it close when Matt Tamminga scored with just under five minutes to go. The IceDogs continued the pressure after that, but that was as close as they would come.
We'll give the nod for the Player of the Game to Flyers goaltender, Rick Jones, who made some big saves to ensure the Flyers' victory.

The second game for both of these series goes on tonight (Saturday, March 8) @ the RBC Centre.
7:00pm - IceDogs vs. Flyers
8:20pm - Omegas vs. Hawks

The IceDogs and defending champion, Hawks, face elimination in tonight's games.

Sid VanReenen, of the Omegas, reached the 30 minute mark in penalties for the season. He will be suspended from playing in the first regular season game of next season. He is okay to play in his playoff game on Friday (March 7).

Jeff Vanderdeen, of the Cattle Barons, also reached the 30 minute mark in penalties for the season. He will also be suspended from playing in the first game of next season.

Billy Freer, of the Cattle Barons, was handed a "game misconduct" in the late game on Friday. For this, he will also be suspended from playing the first game next season.

The early game saw the IceDogs beat the Stars 7-6 in overtime.
The first two periods were pretty even. Each team scored a goal in the first, and the IceDogs went into the third up 3-2.
Half-way through the third, the IceDogs had scored three more goals, and with a 6-2 lead, looked like they would skate away with a commanding victory.
With eight minutes to go in the third, the Stars desperately fought their way back into it by scoring four consecutive goals.
After tying it up and sending the game to overtime, the Stars hoped to clinch a playoff berth and pulled their goalie in overtime to go hard for the extra point. After two minutes with lots of chances for the Stars, the IceDogs hung on & were able to score the game winner into the empty net.
Matt Tamminga & Jordan DeBoer each had three points for the IceDogs, including Matt's game winning goal (which was assisted by Jordan). Risser Wierenga & Jeff Sit each had three points for the Stars. Risser scored the goal that tied it up with just over a minute to go in the third. Jeff scored a hat-trick for the Stars, including the two goals that essentially got the Stars back in the game. Dale Moesker had a four point game for the Stars, including three assists in the final eight minutes of the third period comeback.
Its pretty tough to pick any one of these five guys, so I'll just "cop-out" and have them share the Player of the Game honours.

With the Stars failure to win the early game, the Omegas took matters into their own hands by beating the Hawks 10-3 in the middle game. In doing so, the Omegas earned the fourth playoff seed, and kept the Stars out of the playoffs for the fifth straight season.
The Omegas certainly came to play in this one. They embarrassed the top-seeded Hawks in the first period by scoring seven unanswered goals. After that, things evened out a bit, but the game was already "over" by that point.
Dave Giffen had three points for the Omegas, but the Player of the Game is Lance Ross. He had five points for the Omegas, including four goals.

The late game saw the Flyers beat the Cattle Barons 10-7. The win gave the Flyers the second seed going into the playoffs.
The Cattle Barons held the lead after the first period at 2-1.
The Flyers took over the lead in the second period by scoring four goals. They went into the third up 5-3.
The third period got a little wild with nine goals being traded between the two teams.
Jeff Vanderdeen had three points for the Cattle Barons. Dave Groendyk & Matt VanMarum each had three points for the Flyers.
We'll let O.J. Deelstra, Dan VanReenen, & Tyler Veenendaal share the Player of the Game honours for this one. O.J. had five points, including four goals, for the Cattle Barons. Dan & Tyler each had four points for the Flyers. Dan scored a hat-trick.

I just got word from the RBC Centre that we got bumped by a half hour on Saturday, March 8 and on Saturday, March 15.
Here is what the playoff schedule looks like since these changes have been made:

Friday, March 7 @ Point Edward Arena
7:00pm - Hawks vs. 4th
8:20pm - 2nd vs. 3rd

Saturday, March 8 @ RBC Centre (rink 2)
7:00pm - 3rd vs. 2nd
8:20pm - 4th vs. Hawks

Friday, March 14 @ Point Edward Arena
7:00pm - teams to be determined
8:20pm - (if necessary) teams to be determined

Saturday, March 15 @ RBC Centre (rink 2)
7:00pm - finalists

Friday, March 21 @ Point Edward Arena
7:00pm - finalists

Saturday, March 29 @ RBC Centre (rink 2)
6:30pm - finalists

All of this can be found in the "Schedule" section of this website.

The Stars continued the push for their first playoff appearance in five seasons with a 7-2 win over the Hawks.
It was a pretty tight game for the most part. The Stars held a 1-0 lead after the first period, and a 3-1 lead after two.
Jason Hotke had another strong game for the Stars, scoring two goals and two assists. He earns the Player of the Game for his efforts.

In the middle game, the IceDogs clinched a playoff berth with a 5-3 win over the Flyers.
The IceDogs got the lone goal in the first period. The Flyers countered with the lone goal in the second period and the teams went into the third tied at 1-1.
Early in the third, the IceDogs scored two quick goals to go up 3-1. The Flyers cut the lead to one when they scored half-way through the third. They evened things up when they scored with four minutes to go, but the IceDogs regained the lead a minute later. They sealed the deal with an empty netter in the last minute of the game.
Matt Tamminga is the Player of the Game. He scored twice for the IceDogs, including the game winner.

The Omegas kept their playoff hopes alive with a 7-5 win over the Cattle Barons in the late game.
Things were not looking good for the Omegas early in the game. The Cattle Barons got off to a great start in the game, and were up 4-1 late in the first period.
The Omegas scored in the last minute of the first. This goal seemed to change the momentum of the game. The Omegas were all over the Cattle Barons in the second period. Dave Noorloos, playing as a fill-in goalie for the Cattle Barons, was quite busy for the rest of the game, and held the Cattle Barons in it for as long as he could. By the end of the period, the Omegas had come back to take a 6-4 lead. Dave continued to play well in net for the Cattle Barons, but the Omegas did not let up the pressure, and worked hard for this victory.
Lance Ross & O.J. Deelstra will share the Player of the Game honours in this one. Each of them scored a hat-trick for their respective teams. Dave Noorloos does deserve honourable mention for his efforts as well.